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Celeste had suggested I move on with another show as quickly as possible. My art was getting rave reviews from the critics and the buyers were clamoring for more work. The most popular were the paintings I did of Celeste and of Tommy, in such a short space of time they had been dubbed the new necessity for social acceptance in the art world, if I’d painted you, then you’d apparently ‘made it’. I’d already started more portraits for a show I wanted to do in the future with one of Kitty.

The portrait show that I saw for the future would be a mix of ordinary people I’d just ask to pose, combined with a scattering of models and celebrities to bring the crowds in. I hoped I could get Ingrid Cale to pose for me, she would definitely bring a lot of attention to the work, as well as grandma. I hadn’t actually asked her to pose for me, I presumed she’d be down for it but I wasn’t really sure how she felt about being painted, definitely need to check that one out. Although the portrait gallery was my focus at the moment it was still a long way off. It would take time to sit down with a host of different people, especially with the schedules of the celebrities I was interested in painting. My current show was all about the human form, a series of paintings of both men and women in just their underwear. At first I’d ran into problems because it had been done so many times before, I didn’t want to copy anyone or anything so I’d decided to spice things up a little by giving the main paintings a homo-erotic feel.

The guys clearly thought I was gay, and the girls obviously thought I was a pervert but I didn’t mind, I was paying them to pose, not to think. The paintings came out great in the end, at lease Celeste thought they’d do well.

Ah Celeste, after she’d kissed me on the night of the show she’d just walked off as if it was the most normal thing in the world, I wish! I didn’t know what she was doing, if it was just some kind of game rolling around in her posh English head or if she was actually interested in me (which I sure as hell hoped!) but I didn’t care as long as I got to make out with her again. Ah, that kiss…

The show came around faster than I expected, before I knew it muscle men in tighty whiteys and svelte girls in their panties weren’t hanging around my studio any more, the paintings were all set up, and Celeste was popping in to sort out the lighting and last minute details in between endless calls to her party planner. I was excited to see my family at the show, Celeste owned a gallery right on Grand Street in the centre of town, the Veloria Gallery, which had a studio and living space above it, so I’d been staying there. It was easier to ask my models to get to Grand Street than trek up into the country so I could draw them at home, besides I didn’t think mom and dad would have appreciated a bunch of guys and girls making out for hours on end in the sunroom while I painted them.

—

—

People were definitely shocked when they walked in the door. Not exactly by the homosexual nature of the paintings, this was the art crowd after all, more that it was a 16 year old who had painted them. I didn’t care about things like that, sex wasn’t something that made me squeam or get embarrassed or anything, I don’t really know why, maybe it was because I’d been looking at nudes from a young age, ever since I was interested in art, but whatever.

“My son! I’m so proud of you!” Mom gushed as I went over to talk to her. She had let me stay at the Veloria gallery for the past few weeks without any problems at all, I thought she might have tried to keep me at home, as I was still in school and stuff, but she’d just mumbled somethings about ‘her at my age..’ and walked off, whatever that was supposed to mean.

“Now I know I don’t know that much about art, but I do know these are amazing son. I really love them.” She looked around the room, taking in all the work before she looked at me once more, smiling broadly. I was so happy that she liked it, it was fantastic to see her up and about after the awful ordeal with the cancer. You wouldn’t have even known she was wearing a wig while she grew her hair back.

“Thanks mom, I’m glad you like them. Is dad coming?” I looked around nervously for Noah, he was definitely happy that I was out making something of myself but he would probably have been a bit put off that his son was drawing men making out with each other.

“He said he’d try to stop by later. Listen,” she leaned in close to me, “do we need to have a conversation about your sexuality?” I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not, was she being serious?!

“Mom!” I shouted back at her, outraged. How could she even ask? “Don’t you think I would have told you?!” I couldn’t care less that she was asking if I was gay, it was the fact that she thought I’d keep something so big from her!

“Okay, okay, sorry!” She said, throwing her hands up.

After pecking mom on the cheek I went around and said hi to everyone, I had to make sure my presence was noticeable, Celeste said buyers loved it if the artist came and spoke to them, it wasn’t as if it was any trouble, so why not. Heading into the second, much smaller room with a few more pieces in I came face to face with Ingrid. I hadn’t seen her since the last opening, although I had gotten a call from her secretary, a Miss Suzie Sandor who invited me to an upcoming gala being hosted at her Grand Circle mansion.

“Well, well. Mr Belgravia himself. I’d take my hat off to you if I ever wore one.” Ingrid smiled at me, waving her arm around the room to indicate the art. “Who are these fabulously beautiful models? It’s a wonder bodies like these even exist.”

“That’s the first one I got, James.” I told her, pointing to him on a painting of all of the five models I used for the show. “He basically hooked me up with the rest.”

“And then you hooked them up with each other.” She joked, her hand resting on my arm for a few seconds. Looking into her face I was captivated. She wasn’t the most beautiful woman I’d seen, but there was just something about her…

“Do you think anyone will be joining us in this room?” She was definitely flirting with me.

“I dunno. I hope not.” I was trying to make it clear that I wanted to be in here with her, this was so surreal.

I’d had a poster of this woman on my wall just a few years ago, now she was flirting with me!!

“Who’s that one? With the grey hair.” She nodded back to the painting.

“Andreas.” I didn’t have to look at the painting, I knew the models by heart, my eyes never left hers. I didn’t know if it was the confidence I was feeling from everyone praising me all night, or the adrenaline rush of being so close to Ingrid Cale but I felt myself moving closer and closer to her, she stooped a little to be at my level, I didn’t feel emasculated or anything, who would if Ingrid Cale was stooping down to kiss them?! For a second I thought about Celeste, what would she think? But how could I resist a star of the silver screen?

* * *

Kitty

The sense of elation I felt as I walked out of the journalism workshop was one I hadn’t felt for a long time. I hadn’t realised how behind I’d gotten on current affairs, how sloppy my writing had became, or, most importantly, just how much I missed writing. I’d finally caved and called grandfather, after all, what were family for if not to help each other? He’d gotten me onto the best course in the city within an hour of my call, and the next day I was there! I’d been hoping for some hot guys in the class, but they were total duds. Oh well, the writing was enough to occupy me anyway. I felt like I could do anything, thinking about the Nature vs Nurture debate we’d just had, thinking how the teacher had praised my work, it had been such a good day! I was so busy thinking about the class that I never noticed the loose curb…

Hitting the pavement hard I had the wind knocked out of me, ouch! I hadn’t taken such a bad fall in quite a while, thank God my spine wasn’t broken or something, jesus. I was definitely complaining to the local council about this one. Sitting up and nursing my head I got another shock, a total stranger leaning down right in front of me! He looked concerned, and was offering his hand.

“You okay there? Do you need me to take you to the hospital or anything?” He asked as he pulled me up. I was so embarrassed!

“Oh no, no, I’m fine, just silly old me, too wrapped up in my own little world to notice a god damn paving stone.” I laughed half heatedly, I really didn’t feel like talking, I just wanted to get home.

“You sure there’s nothing I can do?”

“Completely. Thanks for your help.” It was then that I really looked at him, he was actually really cute, and he was kind to boot! I had to take my chance now while I had it. “Um, I don’t know if you’re into it or anything but my brother Oliver is having an art show soon all these different portraits he’s done, I wondered if you’d like to come… you know, as a thank you.” I rung my hands nervously, it wasn’t often I was nervous about boys, but I wanted this guy not to think of me as a total freak.

He tilted his head to the side, smiling slightly. Damn I wished I had mind reading powers, I hated not knowing what he was going to say! It felt like hours before he smiled at me and nodded his head.

“I’d love to come, thanks…?”

“Kitty.” I smiled back, did I just pick up a guy on the street? Go me!

“Cool. I’m Laurence.” Laurence, hmm, the name didn’t really seem to fit the whole persona he had going on with the scruffy hair, denim jacket and converse, but whatever. After all, what kind of a name was Kitty?!

“Um, here, call me and I’ll tell you all about it.” I quickly scrawled my note on a scrap of paper from class and thrust it into his hand, and with that I ran off to my car, smiling to myself all the way home.

* * *

Olive

For a second I didn’t know where I was, then I remembered, Riley’s bed. I’d just lost my virginity, kind of a big deal I guess, but at least it wasn’t hanging on my shoulders any more. Moving to the window I looked out over the dark ocean.

What was I doing? I should just go home, where I was meant to be, I didn’t belong here. But I didn’t belong at home either, everyone was so perfect apart from me, the wreck of the family. They’d be better off without me.

“Morning honey bun!” Reena squealed from the terrace as I moved out into the bright morning sun after a few hours in my own bed. When I wasn’t drunk I realised how annoying she was, ugh.

“Morning.” I replied, sitting down and playing with my hair, I didn’t really know what to do with myself, hopefully there was some drink in the house.

“How was last night? Was Riley just amazing?! I think about having sex with him myself sometimes, but like, he’s my cousin! Like, ew?!”

“Uh, yeah, it was great!” I threw her a big smile, to be honest it wasn’t all that. I was uncomfortable with it, and it hurt a lot, but at least my stupid virginity was gone, I guess it made me a real woman. I sat staring at the ocean for a few more minutes, jeez it made me feel small. Looking over at Reena I noticed a strange look on her face as she stared at me, what the hell was she doing?

“What?!” I snapped after a few minutes.

“Babes, calm down! It must be your icky black hair that’s making you so angry. You totes need a Miami makeover, oh em gee! Isn’t that the best idea ever?!”

“You think I need a makeover?!” I accused angrily. Was she saying I looked bad or something, at least I wasn’t a walking barbie!

“Oh hun calm down, I know what I’m doing. Trust me.” Before I could object she’d grabbed my arm and was leading me through the endless glass house down to ‘the makeover room’ as she called it. Standing in front of the full length mirror I thought I looked fine, why should I change?

“Sweetie you’re more goth glam!” Goth?! I wasn’t a goth at all, just because I had black hair?! “You need to lighten the hair a bit, get some color on your cheeks, and a cute dress! Listen put this on,” She handed me a hot pink blindfold, “I swear I won’t go far! You’ll really fit in more with the Miami vibe.” She gave me her famous puppy dog eyes, well why not? If she wasn’t gonna go over the top I might as well let her make me look a little more Miami.

Stepping down once she was done a few hours later I didn’t know what she would have done, hopefully I’d just look a little more ‘fun’. We made our way back to the terrace where Carlie was waiting for us, she still wouldn’t let me look in the mirror though!

“Where the hell have you guys been I wanna go- OH MY GOD! You look so different Olive, I swear you don’t even look like the same person!” Um, was that good?! What had she done?

“Isn’t it sooo fun?!” Reena gushed, fixing my hair at the back, I still hadn’t seen it! I quickly ran into the house and looked in the bathroom mirror. Was that me? I looked completely different!

“WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE?!” I screamed, marching back onto the terrace in a fury.

“Hun just calm down, you look totally hot. Goth chic’s out sweetie, you wanna be glam, right?” I was about to scream at her again when I realised there was nothing I could do. I could go back to my original look but what was the point? I might as well give this ‘Miami look’ a try, maybe they were right, maybe I really did look better.

“Clubs? Can we get in?” I asked nervously, if I was drunk I wouldn’t have thought twice about it, but I’d been in that stupid makeover room all day, I felt like I was going crazy.

“Of course!” Carlie and Reena both laughed at my obvious naivety. “In this town all you gotta do is look hot, flirt with the bouncer and you’re in. Lets have a dance before we go!” Reena ran and switched the music on while I quickly went to the bar and had a few mouthfuls of vodka. Much better.

We danced on the terrace for a few hours, I loved dancing, I just felt so free! I must admit the new look was making me feel a little more confident, I felt like I fitted in with the others more, who needed family when I had friends like this? It was as if Reena actually cared about me, wow, I loved them so much! The club we ended up going to was apparantly the best in the city, ‘only the best for us!’ Carlie had shouted as we rode up in the elevator, I must admit I didn’t think we’d get in, but after a lot of drinks I was feeling pretty sure of myself, and a quick flirt with the burly bouncer got us straight in.

“Don’t look now girls but we’re totally getting the eye.” Carlie commented as she enjoyed her Bubblegum Bubbles. The eye?

“Of course we are. Where are they?” Reena flicked her long blonde hair and looked around the club, quickly spotting the three guys across from us, smiling and nodding appreciatively.

“Um, they’re total duds. Why are there no hot guys here?” I asked the girls, I wanted to find someone cute to have fun with, not those idiots who only looked about our age. I’d had Riley now, I was worth more than that.

“Can’t you see the guy on the left?” I looked over at the foreign looking guy with the shaved head, um- ew much?

“What about him? He’s ugly.” I said.

“Who cares about his looks, he’s worth like 400 million, I met him last summer.” Reena said, seeming very interested.

“Sorry Reena babes, you know moms cut me off. He’s gotta be for me.” Carlie stood up, and smoothing down her tight leather dress sashayed across the room to where the boys were stood. Me and Reena followed a strategic 5 minutes later.

After a few minutes of shouting to each other over the pumping music we ended up downstairs on the dance floor. I got the best out of a bad bunch, I didn’t know his name, but he was a decent dancer so whatever. He definitely liked me, I knew that much. He kept putting his arms around my neck, which I’d strategically wiggle out of by pretending to be dancing, like I was better than him, I deserved someone better. At least I didn’t get Reenas guy, who I could see eyeing her up and down, a mini Barbie in her pink playsuit, impossibly long blonde hair and hot pink lipstick. He even grabbed her boob at one point!

I noticed Carlie was busy ensnaring her guy, they were over in a quieter part of the club, and I could see her hand grazing his crotch from time to time, I suppose a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. Her mom was cutting her off, I mean I don’t have a clue what I’d do without money. Thank god mom didn’t lock my account when I ran off.

I guess the night was a success, we got guys, we had drinks, and we had fun. I just wished I’d met a better guy. Rolling out of the club at 3AM we were quickly picked up by the police, when we couldn’t give them any ID it was straight into the back of a cop car, for a second I was nervous but I just ended up laughing about it, after all what would they do to Lily Belgravia’s granddaughter?

* * *

Part 2 – the final installment of this generation – should be up tomorrow.

Also the family tree has been updated with Oriana and Alexandra’s families; can you believe that Lily is now a great-grandmother?!

How could she have done this?! I couldn’t believe mom hadn’t told us she had cancer! Noah had quickly filled us all in as he raced the Range Rover down the twisting streets behind the blaring lights of the ambulance. It was definitely not the way any of us had wanted to find out, and Noah had seemed completely uncomfortable telling us so hastily, especially with all of us completely shaken up, and Olive’s constant sobs didn’t help at all. I paced up and down as we waited for mom to come out of surgery, I couldn’t even consider sleep like Kitty, Olive and Oliver had.

I continued pacing, mumbling under my breath and kicking the walls, she had to be okay! What if the doctor came out and said she hadn’t made it, no! I couldn’t think like that.

“Hey, you okay?” At first I considered not answering, but I needed something to distract me. “Sit down?” She asked kindly, she was looking up at me, full of concern.

“Who are you waiting for?” She asked as I sat down warily beside her. I didn’t know why, but I felt like I could talk to her.

“Uh – my mom, she’s in surgery.”

“That sucks. I hope she pulls through.” The conversation was clearly going to be a little awkward from the get go, but we kept talking.

“I just hope she can make it, I mean, I dunno what I’d do without her, I can’t even think of anything different than having my mom around.” She listened patiently as I told her the story of the night, the party, my moms announcement, her collapse, everything.

“I know how you feel, honestly. My moms here for her chemotherapy right now, I have to wait out here till she’s done though. They won’t let me into the room.” Her mom had cancer too?! No wonder I felt like I could relate to her.

“What’s it like? The chemo?”

“I’m not gonna lie, it’s hard on her. She vomits, she’s always tired, her hair fell out long ago, but it’ll all be worth it when she pulls through.” I took note of her use of when she pulls through instead of if she pulls through. That’s how I should be thinking. Mom will pull through!

“Thanks so much for talking to me, you really calmed me down.”

“Yeah, you seemed pretty upset – understandably. I’m glad I could help.” This girl was so great.

Kitty –

I didn’t know how long I had been asleep, me, Olive, and Oliver had all dropped off as soon as we sat down, we were all worried but we just couldn’t stay awake any longer. At least this would pass some time too. Olive was still asleep, her head almost touching my legs. I needed her to wake up so we could talk about everything, not her bullimea, just mom. I needed to talk.

“Kitty, you okay?” Oliver had woken up.

“Um – no, not really no.”

“Wanna go for a walk?” He was so kind, but I couldn’t go for a walk, mom could be out of surgery any second.

“Come on, I just spoke to the nurse, she said mom won’t be out of surgery for at least another hour, we should get something to eat.” He didn’t give me time to tell him no, grabbing my hand and leading me down the hallway, out into the night. We walked for a while in silence, across the street, down to the boardwalk. It was so beautiful here, it was unimaginable that such tragedy was happening at the same time.

“Kitty, you think she’ll be okay?” He asked nervously, staring out to sea. I always forgot how young Oliver was, he had filled out quickly, and combined with his mature, caring nature (at times!) he could probably pass as my age, even though he was barely 14.

“Of course she will be.” I felt a lot less confident than I sounded as I reassured my little brother, I didn’t actually know myself. All I knew was that she had to be, we couldn’t lose her, she was our rock.

“Kitty…” He stared down at the ground, clearly (and understandably) upset, “what if she dies?” the words came out in a choked whisper, I had been thinking them too, but I hadn’t wanted to say them out loud, it all just felt so real. If we didn’t say it she could just be in hospital for a check up, oh damn, I knew I was kidding myself, it was obviously real… I just couldn’t face it. I still hadn’t answered him, I looked down at the ground as he stared at mine, I knew what he wanted, for me to say she wouldn’t die, but now that I’d thought about it I realised it was a very real possibility – she may not even make it out of surgery, and that wasn’t even to do with the cancer!

Olive –

I paced up and down the hallway, my nerves going out of control. I knew mom was okay, they had brought her out of surgery and she was resting with Noah keeping up a bedside vigil. I bit my nails and tapped my feet as I walked past the mostly deserted rooms, I couldn’t go in there. Not on my own, I didn’t want to see mom like this, she couldn’t be ill, it just wasn’t right, she was the heart of the family, who would hold us all together?

I needed my siblings to come back, where the hell where they?! I had woke up to find everyone gone, Tommy, Kitty, Oliver, all of them, all gone. I had not a single idea where they could be, I’d asked dad when he came out to convince me to come in and see mom but he didn’t know either. I just needed someone to talk to, I needed Kitty to be here and convince me to go inside that little room where mom was laying in the bed, with cancer. I stood in the hallway, staring into the room through the glass. She didn’t look ill, just as if she was napping, but I knew she had just had major surgery to remove a blood clot and she was obviously in a bad condition, it was such a frightening thought.

“Olive!” I heard a voice shout to me from down the hallway, it was Tommy! And some girl who I had never seen before in my life. Was Tommy picking up girls at the hospital?!

“Where have you been?!” I was pretty angry with him, mom was in surgery and he was off with some girl, probably looking for a date or something, what an idiot.

“Just to the vending machines downstairs, why aren’t you in there?” He seemed a little upset that he wasn’t in the room, but the girl whispered something into his ear and I noticed him calm down.

“Um -” I knew I had to go in, and now was as good a time as any, “I’m going in now, come on.” He walked ahead of me into the room, I didn’t know if the girl was going to try and follow him in, but I was still going to stop her. “Look sweetie,” I said, spinning around and blocking the door, even though she hadn’t moved yet. “This is a family issue, so why don’t you go somewhere else.” It wasn’t a question and she knew it. Her face set into a hard line of anger, but for whatever reason she just turned on her heel and strutted off down the hallway, whatever.

It wasn’t long until Olive and Kitty came back from wherever they had been – thank God! I knew that Kitty was upset with me right now, but my… issues were nothing compared to this. Our mom could die! Noah told us that they had gotten the clot out, it was lucky that we were throwing a party causing mom not to be wrapped up in bed, or we may never have known anything was wrong until the next morning, and by then it would have been too late. You could have cut the tension in the air with a knife, mom was heavily sedated, resting. Noah had his position next to her, barely speaking to us aside from telling us hard facts, I knew he didn’t dare to hope out loud, after all, she may have gotten through this, but there was still cancer to deal with! We all stood around her bed, an odd sight in our formal clothes from the party, inwardly praying for her survival; I had never been one for God, but now I felt that if He was real I needed Him more than ever.

Arielle –

I was looking down upon myself, it was like an out of body experience, I could see them; my family, my loves, my life, all stood around my bed. The looks on their faces pained me so deeply I thought I may have exploded. Kitty was stoic, staring straight at me, but I could see the fear in her eyes. Olive was outwardly nervous, tapping her Louboutins on the hard tile floor over and over again, picking at her nails and messing with her clothes. Oliver was clearly angry, I knew what he was thinking, this anger at the world was consuming him. Noah, my love, was trying to hold himself together, he was always such a man, never losing control, always proud, but I could see the worry on his face. Tommy was also stoic like his sister Kitty, looking down at the floor with a look of deep sadness on his handsome face.

I needed to wake up from the drug induced sleep, I had to be there for my family but it was impossible. What could I possibly do to comfort them when I was in shreds myself. It sounds selfish but I really didn’t want to die, I wasn’t ready, I hadn’t done everything in my life that I could have. What about poor Cora, still at home with a babysitter, without a care in the world. No doubt she would grow up with problems if she went through life without a mother to be there for her. Noah was a good father but he wasn’t very hands on with the kids, he was working all the time, when he came home he was the stern but cheerful father, the one the kids loved unconditionally. I had to be strong, for their sakes.

Oliver –

Why was no one doing anything?! We were all just stood around like half wits staring at moms sleeping figure. We should have been calling doctors, flying the best specialists in from around the world, anything but this standing around waiting for something to happen! I scowled at the rest of my family, who didn’t notice as they were still too busy staring at mom. I couldn’t be here!

I had to leave, I couldn’t be there anymore. So I ran. I ran straight out of the depressing, unthinkable situation. I could here Noah shouting me as I ran from the room but I didn’t turn around, I ran straight through the twisting blank white hallways of the hospital out into the night, being anywhere else would be better than being in there.

I didn’t know where I was going, there was no destination in my mind, but it had to be somewhere far away. This new town was huge, much bigger than Bridgeport, it felt amazing to be able to run from the built up city center, straight through the quaint suburbs, and out into the country. After a while I realised I was at the city limits, if I just kept running I could leave all of this behind, run to a new city, ignore my moms problems and start over. But I couldn’t. I just needed some peace. Running into the National Park on the edge of the city I wished I had my easel with me, this place was so beautiful. Damn, how could I be thinking of art when my mom was dying?!

A small cluster of benches were inviting me, I had been running for what felt like hours without stopping, I needed to rest, and this seemed like the perfect place. Sat among the nature I tried to clear my head, that’s what people always seemed to do, just get rid of their thoughts for a while, just to calm down. I took deep breaths, in, and out, in, and out. I wished I had a pack of cigarettes right now, I’d tried one at school a few weeks ago after a tough test and it had calmed me right down.

I tried not to think about mom, if I let myself think of the possibilities I wouldn’t be able to stop, I knew I’d end up breaking down, I mean it wasn’t like anyone was around, but I didn’t want to be weak, dad had taught me that men always have to be strong. The silence was so complete that it was a shock when I heard twigs snapping, and a rustling behind the bushes ahead. I stared ahead, ready for some sort of monster to come out of the bushes and eat me, or a tramp to come and mug me, but what came out was even odder.

It was the most unlikely type of person to emerge that I could have imagined, this perfectly manicured woman, an unnatural sight for a National Park, where was her hiking gear? She had noticed me, I knew that. She was walking towards me purposely, I quickly composed myself, it wouldn’t be cool to let her know I was upset, whoever she was.

“Hello! What a shock to see someone else out here so early, or late, depending on what you’ve been up too.” She said in a clipped English accent, extending a manicured hand to me, which I shook wearily. “What are you doing out here?” She asked, staring at me curiously.

“Um- I was just, walking around and I ended up here. If you don’t mind me saying, you don’t seem like, dressed properly for this place.” I smiled weakly at her, I couldn’t really be bothered with a conversation with this woman, but she was intriguing me.

“Well if you don’t mind me saying, neither of us seem to be be dressed appropriately for such a place, but I always find the appropriate way is usually the most tedious. Don’t you agree?” I had completely forgotten I was still in my extremely formal suit from the party. “I was actually at a rather fabulous party at the McLaughlins, if you must know. Now you must tell me where you where. How old are you by the way.” She peered at me as if she couldn’t quite work it out. She was taller than me, and I guessed she was probably somewhere in her late 20’s, I didn’t really know.

“17.” I said quickly, adding 3 years onto my age. She would probably just laugh if she knew I was only 14, I had to quickly move the conversation on. “Do you mean the MacLaughlins as in Mayor MacLaughlin?” I must admit that I was impressed, she clearly knew the high players of the city, I’d wanted to get a meeting with Mayor MacLaughlin for months to ask about getting my art around the city, but I never got past his secretary. I knew if I asked grandpa the Mayor would probably come straight over to the house, but I didn’t want help, I wanted to do it on my own. “I was actually at a party myself, but it got to be kind of a drag.” I didn’t want to tell her about mom , I don’t really think she would want to hear my sob story, she was just being polite.

“It seems like we think alike. I love to come to this park after a good party, it really clears my head. Gives me good ideas for the artists I endorse also.” She looked away from me for a second, at the wonderful scenery around her.

“You endorse artists? I’m an artist.” I blurted out before I could stop myself. I had been looking for someone like this for ages. She turned back to me with a half smile on her lips.

“You are? Well you should show me your work, I love to find up and coming artists.” Before I knew it we were engaged in a conversation about art, debating the best artists, telling each other our favourite works, and generally just having a good conversation. I’d never met someone who knew so much about art, she knew much, much more than I did, she even knew more than my teacher. It was such a great conversation that I found myself not consumed with worry over mom, which in a way I felt guilty about, but on the other hand it was so good to just have a real conversation without the dreaded C word hanging on my every thought.

“Goodness is that the time.” She glanced at her watch and then at the sky, the sun was slowly rising, casting a pink glow over everything in sight, it was beautiful. “I simply must go, a girl has to get her beauty sleep. Take my card.” She slipped a fancy white card into my hand before turning on her heel and heading back to the path, not looking back once. I looked down at the card, Celeste Clarence-Veloria. Maybe this was just the person I had been looking for.

* * *

Sorry it’s been so long guys! I know this chapter isn’t great, but I’m just extending some of the story lines and figuring out how to go about the whole cancer business. I hope you enjoy it, hopefully there will be a new chapter very soon. I also wanted to know what you thought of the way the last chapter was wrote. Do you prefer it to be written in the third person or first person? Please tell me, it would really help me out!

The triplex penthouse that came on the market 6 months ago in the prestigious ‘Breach House’ was one that interested many of you architectural buffs. The said penthouse was snatched up by one of the most unlikely of buyers; Miss Arielle Belgravia, daughter of world famous actress Lily Belgravia and top Bridgeport financier and CEO of Belgravia Industries International Chace Belgravia. Miss Belgravia has been off the Bridgeport scene for some months now, having held a position at one of the countries elite private schools, The Howland School for Girls.

We were all interested to see if Miss Belgravia would follow the previous owners in the traditional style of the apartment, with oak floors, oak panelling, and (before the owners removed them; see Article 64, June 1997) the classic furniture which brought it all together. We were lucky enough to be granted what we have been promised will be the only photo spread of the newly furnished apartment. Arriving at the towering apartment block on 1101 Bayshore Highway I felt a little intimidated, the building has been home to some of Bridgeport’s top monetary elite, and I counted no less than 1 million dollars worth of jewels on the several mink clad women that passed by me as I crossed the lobby. Riding the elevator to the 25th floor I must admit I was a little nervous, would she have done the apartment justice? That’s what we’re here to find out.

The entrance of her apartment is stunning in itself. After passing through a large grille gate (which, according to local gossip her mother insisted upon for her daughters security) I entered the classic, simple white door that led me into a shocking hallway. The colours alone are enough to make your mind spin, with a harsh black and white floor, which I noticed followed through to both the kitchen and the living area.

The built in book cases help to fill the room while cancelling the need for pictures on the very busy walls. On closer inspection of these bookcases it seems Miss Belgravia has exceptional taste, with a penchant for novels of the French variety. A rare Socratic bust is framed in the beautiful post-war window which floods the hallway with light during the day.

The kitchen is definitely a first in a building of this sort, the original kitchen was ripped out when Miss Belgravia took residence, and replaced with a startling modern version. The original stone walls, revealed when the kitchen panelling (a lighter shade than used throughout the rest of the house) allows the modern counters and cabinets to really stand out, and a central glass island breaks up the large space and allows for those friendly chats with a hot chocolate that we all love.

Through an original archway, which Miss Belgravia was required to keep (but claims she likes anyway, and would not have had them pulled out) is the utilities area, yes not the most exciting of areas but, as always, we over at Architectural Digest cover every aspect (that the owners allow us to) of an apartment. Obviously, this area is home to the washer and dryer of the house (a rare commodity for city dwellers, no laundromat needed here!), but in the true party girl style that we all know and love her for, Miss Belgravia opted not only to rent a wine cellar on the basement level like most of the residents of the building, she also opted for 3 wine racks on this level, so if she ever needs a drink one isn’t more than a few feet away.

The living room is another huge change from the Bartlett apartment (Article 64, June 1997). The oak panelling has been stripped bare, revealing the stone walls which have been left unpainted on two main walls, and the other two painted a neutral cream/white, giving the space much more of a loft feel. Miss Belgravia loves to settle down in here with a good book or a movie, with a cup of her favourite coffee.

The eclectic furniture gives us a real insight into her personality and taste, with purposely mismatched furniture, fur rugs on the cold checker board floor that follows through from the hallway, and select paintings lit professionally to maximise their effect. Issues of Vogue battle for space against the complete works of Keats and Shakespeare on the central coffee table, which appears to be the base for everything Miss Belgravia loves. A beautiful grand piano is available for use next to the door leading to the terrace, which has both city and sea views. An original, signed guitar from popular rock band ‘Talbot’ lays at the foot of a 200 year old sculpture, based on Botticelli.

A 1950’s pin up girl vys for wall space with a classical religious painting, rumoured to have been painted by a student of Da Vinci. The contrast portrayed throughout the main room of the house (what Miss Belgravia calls ‘the hub’) is a huge part of the integrity of the apartment, symbolising how young Miss Belgravia hopes to live comfortably with her other more traditional, usually older neighbours, and how the old and the new can come together in an effective way.

Contrasting with the light walls, black bookcases (built in) frame the original oak archway which leads to the simple, modern study.

A bright red desk adds a splash of colour to the plain white room, along with another colourful feature, the huge mural behind two ornate glass bookcases featuring another 1950’s girl: Marilyn Monroe. Large windows frame stunning sea views and another terrace offers an even better view.

Stairs (the old wood rails were replaced with sleek glass) in this room lead down to another floor, which is currently being used as Miss Belgravia’s significant others (‘Leo’ a painter whom she met in France) studio, where she tells us he spends most of the day, painting. The studio is a truly cavernous room, made even more so by the lack of any significant furniture or use of colour, and the huge windows letting in more light than most of you city dwellers ever see in your entire apartment.

As you know, however much we would have liked to detail every bedroom of Miss Belgravia’s triplex penthouse, there are only so many pages in the magazine, and of course, the master suite took precedence over 4 (you heard right) other guest rooms. Plain white walls and floor are the backdrop for this eclectic room, which is almost a botanical garden in the seating area.

One of her seemingly favourite features, the built in bookcase, continues in this room, framing the white heart shaped bed and also containing many rare books of the French variety.

The seating area is yet another homage to the eclectic tastes of Miss Belgravia, with soft, comfortable chairs alongside sharp, seemingly self supporting end tables, under which more classic novels fight for space with the novel of today: the magazine (this time it’s GQ), a classic red rose sits over the way from a huge orchid (possibly the largest we’ve ever photographed) and a Chanel purse is guarded by an ancient Chinese dragon. She say’s this is the place she likes to read most, and who can blame her with those stunning views of the sea (slightly obstructed by construction work, but that’s a price you pay to live in the city).

Overall, in my opinion, Miss Belgravia’s triplex penthouse is one of the most unique and beautiful in the city. The overwhelmingly eclectic, and perhaps you may even allow me to call it eccentric taste just reveals how bold she really is. One of the oldest and most elite buildings of the city, with names straight from The Social Register has been rocked by the arrival of this new celebrity. With her man in tow (who has done some amazing paintings while in residence here) she seemingly has everything she wants. A ridiculous price tag was attached to the apartment, which Miss Belgravia is not willing to disclose, but if you had the money would you not want to live here? Although we personally love the apartment, what makes this magazine is you. What do you think of her apartment? Thanks for reading, and remember, if you’re born into an extremely rich and privileged family, you can have all this too.

Who will you choose to continue the Belgravia name into the next generation?!

Will it be the wild child Arielle, who grew up with a distant mother and father to turn into a shallow and conceited girl. Can her new love interest Noah give her a new perspective on life, or is he just a guy looking to get lucky?

Or perhaps it will be the booksmart, shy, Alexandra. She grew up in the shadow of her twin sister Oriana, and found solace in the great authors that came before her. Obsessed with a boy from her school, she lays on the outs of the social scene, but has great potential if only she could be blessed with the powers of confidence.

Maybe your vote will go to Oriana. After searching for a passion which would hit her as hard as acting hit her mother, she finally discovered what she wanted to do in life – music. Will she find romance as well as a career with a Rock God from the office, or will she fail completely, and discover music was not her calling at all?

My favourite part of the day was waking up. No one ever bothered me, I could do exactly as I pleased and no one would even try to speak to me until it was time to leave for school. As soon as I woke up I danced – my favourite thing to do.

The freedom of dancing was amazing, I just let loose, letting my body take over as I responded to the music. I, of course, had the best music system available, which drove Alex crazy, she was so much quieter than me. I still loved her, of course, but she was just… well… boring. After getting dressed I fed my fish, passed down to me by Arielle when she got bored of them, personally I loved them, but I definitely wanted bigger and better ones.

If I was bored I’d sometimes check what Alex was doing, maybe she was letting it all go, maybe she’d put some music on and took that awful pilgrim dress off (which she had tried to jazz up with a modern pattern but had failed) and was letting herself go. Alas, she never was. It was always the same, her hunched over that silly laptop typing away on her latest project, or scrolling through pages and pages of pointless information looking for the right information for her books. Who cared? Why didn’t she just wait for the movie?

I’d usually check in on Arielle too, she could be a lot of fun if she was in a good mood, but lately she was never home, ever. Word around school was that she had a boyfriend – a much older boyfriend. I had to talk to her about it.

School – I still didn’t know how I felt about it. It was okay I guess, my music teacher was totally cool, and my friends were great, but they all stayed back after for extra credit and stuff, so I was always left walking out alone.

Who needed extra credit? Certainly not me. I had read somewhere that the best education you can get is by going out and experiencing things. So that’s exactly what I planned to do. One day I went to the furthest point in Bridgeport, I didn’t know exactly what this road I was on was for, it led to nowhere, but it gave a nice view of the city at least.

I spent a while staring at the city, mulling over my thoughts. I needed to decide what I wanted to do with my life, Alex knew she wanted to become an author, but what did I want?

After a while a splashing noise reached my ears, it was really annoying, and as I looked out to sea I saw a huge fish jumping around in the water. Perhaps this could be the latest addition to my tank!

Voilà! The fish was mine! I stood waiting for the epiphany, the voice inside my head that told me I was to become a master fisher and translate those skills over to cooking or something… but it never came. Maybe fishing wasn’t my destiny, oh well. No great loss.

A few more weeks passed, and before I knew it my birthday was looming. I was about to enter a whole new stage of my life, geez, it was strange thinking about it, I hadn’t done much with myself yet, but this would open a whole new chapter for me!

“So are you having a totally great party for your birthday Oriana?” Cindy asked me as we hung out on the school field.

“Yeah, its got to be the party of the year, you know your sis’ won’t have anyone good there, we gotta’ make this party the place to be!” Erin chimed in, looking excited.

These were my two best friends, as we all had pretty similar tastes in music and movies, and although we didn’t really fit in with the popular crowd we were always invited to parties and stuff – partly because I was the daughter of a movie star and partly because people thought we were cool, I didn’t know why, but they did.

“Um – I’m having a party yeah, my moms turning the living room into a party room as we speak, I hope it’s gonna be fun though.” I was a little uneasy, the last party that had been at our house was still talked about today – my parents wedding reception. Apparently it had been the party of the century, with amazing effects, free flowing drink, gourmet food and the most famous sims in the city in attendance. That sure was something to live up to.

“Well, I gotta run- see you tonight dude.” Cindy said as she ran back to the school, where her bike was parked, closely followed by Erin. Mom usually sent a limousine to pick me up, but the whole thing was so pretentious I usually walked home, besides, I liked taking in the scenery.

That same night I was ready for the party. The place had been completely decked out, and a few of my moms friends all told me how great it looked. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, although most of the kids were bunched in the corner, too nervous to let loose. Me and Erin however had no such qualms, I could see her behind me, going as crazy as I was!

As I prepared to blow out my candles it was as if something went off in my head – that epiphany I had been expecting when I was out fishing.

I was going to become a musician! I didn’t know if I would go down the classical route, or the rock and roll route, but whichever it was I knew I would do well.

It was so great to see mom and dad happy again, I didn’t know what had been up with them before, but I think now they were around I was turning out much better than Arielle did. I loved my sister, but she was a bit of a wild one.

I couldn’t keep my hands off my favourite present – an electric guitar! The tunes that came out weren’t very good, but at least no one heard me, I locked the door every time until I got better. I may not be as conceited as Arielle, but I still didn’t want people to see me fail.

* * *

God Noah was hot. And when I say hot I mean HOT! He was a total catch – wealthy, handsome, and fun. I couldn’t resist calling him again for yet another night of dancing.

We chatted at the bar for a while, the club hadn’t started bouncing yet – probably because I had only just arrived, word still had to get around.

When we hit the dance floor people parted to let us through (of course) and we hit it harder than ever before. This was out fourth time dancing, and I knew I wanted tonight to be the night!

We ended up in some sort of glass cube – a showcase for everyone in the club, setting the standard of dancing, a very high standard. At first I didn’t realise it, but as I looked closer I saw him – Chace! What the hell was my dad doing here?! He thought I was sleeping at Emily’s! No, this could not be happening.

Of course it wasn’t long before he noticed me, I was dancing in a glass box after all! His fury was like, coming off him in waves or something, what a bore! He was going absolutely crazy, screaming about how I should be at Emily’s, not here, and about how much of a bad girl I was – ew, it sounded like something from a bad porno!

“And who is this?!” He shouted, just stopping himself from grabbing onto Noahs collar, who was stood there looking awkward.

“That’s for me to know and you to never find out! C’mon Noah!” I had to scream over the music, which had suddenly changed to some sort of heavy rap – ew! I felt so cool as I ran out arm and arm with Noah.

“Can I crash at your place?” I asked, smiling up at him. Tonight was the night, well, I hoped it would be. Was it possible he could reject me – no! I mean, look at me, I’m totally hot, as well as fun, rebellious, and flirty!

“Well I would really like to show you my house, it’s great.” He looked so genuine as he said it, as if he had no ulterior motive at all. Wow, this guy must be a great liar! Of course he only wanted to get me into bed.

After a short ride across the bridge into the hills we arrived at his gated home – wow, this guy was hooked up! The gates opened as he pressed a small button on his keys, and we strolled towards the modern home. I wondered if I was making the right decision, Emily was dating a new guy, and was planning on doing ‘it’ soon. I had to like, beat her, didn’t I? Mom once told me she lost her virginity at 16 – and regretted it every day since, because it wasn’t special enough… maybe… no, that’s just totally lame.

* * *

I knew Oriana was more popular than me but come on – I had something like 3 friends at the party and she had most of our class! I suppose I didn’t care that much, but it was a little disheartening to know I wasn’t the popular one.

Although writing was my passion I also had… another passion. I could barely even think it, it was so embarrassing. It’s name, was Jeremy. Jeremy King, considered by most people in the school to be a complete nerd – but to me he was perfect. I was like a crazy stalker girl, something from a nightmare. I would follow him around, spy on him in the park, hiding behind the fountain and watching from afar.

How did he not notice me? I had never even thought of my mothers acting credentials as a route to popularity, but if I ever needed them, it was now. He had to just look at me! It would be like one of those old movies, where the guy looks at the girl and his face lights up and they lived happily ever after. Ugh! I hated myself, I would follow him home, I had no idea where he lived, as I didn’t dare get on the subway and follow him – partly because he may catch me, and partly because I would never go down there.

Had he noticed me, and I just hadn’t noticed that he’d noticed me? Did he think I was ugly?! I hated myself for thinking like this! I was like one of those sad sex and the city girls who sat around all day thinking about men, it was even finding it’s way into my writing! As I inspected myself in the mirror I thought I looked pretty good, but who knew what he thought. Maybe he liked ethnic looking girls, with wild black hair and a beautiful skin tone, not plain blondes with milky white skin.

Ah, I had to talk to him! Maybe somewhere on my bookshelf was a self-help guide to relationships or something, or maybe I could ask Arielle… no! She’d tell me to jump on him or something, and I was not that kind of girl.

I had given up all hope. Chace wasn’t coming back, it had been to long. I didn’t know what they had done with him, but it was over. So, so over. I felt like the worst person in the world, but however much I tried, I simply couldn’t function without Chace. The girls all thought I was so dumb, but I knew everything they were up to, their exploits didn’t go unnoticed, just unpunished. I didn’t have any drive for such a thing. My life was probably going to become a tragic Bridgeport tale of the actress who goes off the rails. I threw myself on the floor in a heap, this couldn’t be happening to me!

I didn’t even look up when I heard footsteps running towards me, who would it be who I cared about? They were far to light to be one of my daughters. No one else mattered, I had put on a brave face for a while, but I couldn’t keep it up any longer.

As I looked up I thought it was a mirage, it was Chace… but it couldn’t be, he was gone, and we was never coming back! No… no, it was him, I could hear him, but it was as if he was screaming over a layer of white noise, I couldn’t really hear him. Then it was as if a metaphoric light bulb was turned on in my head, the world came into focus, and it was him! I jumped up quickly, my face turning from utter desolation to pure joy as I threw myself into his arms.

“I can’t believe it’s actually you, you came back!” I said joyfully, kissing him over and over again. The man I loved had returned, it was unbelievable. Any second I expected to wake up and be faced with the disaster that was my life. But the reality was so much better.

* * *

Local authorities are still investigating the mysterious fires that happened just under a week ago at two local vampire sights. One of which had remained hidden until very recently, after movie star Lily Belgravia claimed her husband was trapped there. The fires destroyed everything at the two sights, one of which was a Bridgeport landmark, stretching over 7 stories underground, more on that story after the weather.

As I sipped a hot cup of coffee and listened to the news I realised how lucky I as to finally be home. I had a beautiful wife, three beautiful daughters, and an amazing home. Thank God I escaped from those bloodsuckers when I did. A small smile spread across my face when I heard the news story on the radio, I had paid a couple of men a lot of money for that job. No one knew if the vampires were dead or not, I don’t think many were aware they turned to ash when dead, but my guys had told me that no one escaped.

It was great to be back to some sense of normalcy. Although I had been gone an awfully long time, my job was still waiting for me, and after I explained that my car had broken down in the swiss alps, trapping me, they were more than understanding. It was amazing how much had changed since I left, all the girls had grown, and I cursed myself for missing those valuable moments of their life, although if I’m honest with myself, I was never really there for them before. I was determined to be a better father.

* * *

It was totally weird having Dad back. I thought he might have like, run away with some hooker tramp in 8 inch neon heels and never come back. I’d changed so much since he left, and he like, didn’t get me any more, though I had to give him a few points for trying. When I was little he never even spoke to me, I had faint memories of a totally seedy apartment and dad playing with me, but I probably just dreamt it. My therapist told me I had an over-active imagination, like he would know. Yeah anyway, dad, he’s totally trying much harder now, he comes to my room all the time and jokes around with me. Its kinda cute actually.

He was probably just doing it to make mom happy, though it didn’t seem that way. I would tell him all about my life when he came in, though there wasn’t much to tell. It was so boring. Well, the bits I could actually tell him about were boring.

I wished I could still skip school like I used to when I was little, but when dad came back mom had snapped out of her zombie-mom-who-doesn’t-care-about-anything stage and became like, a semi-real mom. She was still out a lot, winning awards for her cop show, which was on like, season 76 or something by now. Okay maybe like season 3, whatever. But that meant school was mandatory again, ew. When I stood outside the place I just felt like throwing myself under the school bus, death would probably be a release from this place!!

At least I had Michael and Emily, they were probably the most grown up kids in our class, like me. We were so much better than them freaks, I don’t wanna sound conceited but it was true, Michael and Emily’s mom was a big movie composer, and her dad was the director on my moms show, but the other kids at school had like… waiters and firemen as their parents, hello, get a good job please? Ew. It was totally like they were my slaves, Michael was a bit weird and stuff, but at least he was rich and popular, so I guess I could let him off.

The other kids stayed in like, every week night and did homework, ha! I’d rather throw myself out of my penthouse than stay in. One particular night we hit up the Banzai Club, which was a pretty decent place, but they left me waiting like, 12 years before they arrived. I was sat like some friendless freak, please!

I had to sit there like a total wiredo with my drink, just staring around the club at all the people talking and laughing, I wanted to die!

I wished I worn something different, it looked pretty good in the mirror but now I was out I realised I looked like a 95 year old grandma on her way to a cousins wedding, the long dress was gonna get on my nerves when he hit the floor too, ugh, I’m such a freak. Thank God and the baby Jesus above when they arrived and we could dance, I was about to pass out with boredom and embarrassment. Emily wasn’t that good of a dancer but I could definitely teach her a few moves, again, I don’t wanna be conceited, but I’m an amazing dancer.

We were totally the youngest people in there, but all the bartenders new me because of my mom, and always let me in. As I danced I noticed a potential across the room. ‘A potential’ is what me and Emily say when we see someone hot we could dance with and maybe, if we like them, hook up with them that night. This one was definitely a potential, and he was totally looking at me. Who could blame him.

After a little eyelash batting and a bit of smiling he worked his way across the floor to dance with me. Score!

“Hi, I’m Arielle” I told him, smiling.

“Noah.” He replied, moving down as he danced, so he was shorter than me and could look up at me, probably checking for a double chin, but he was definitely not going to find one, ew.

“You come here much?” He shouted over the music, giving me a huge smile. Gosh he was totally cute, this could be my best potential yet.

“Oh yeah all the time.” We couldn’t really talk in here, it was jam packed and the music was blasting. We just danced, it must have been at least 3 hours, and we didn’t take our eyes off each other the entire time!

When the club closed and we all piled into the elevators he kept looking over and grinning at me. I smiled back once, but I knew I had to play it cool. Leaving the lobby, I could feel him looking at me, probably checking out my great body.

I knew he was coming, I could hear the light panting and the quick step of shoes on the pavement, but I couldn’t turn around, I had to be cool. He was obviously older than me, and I didn’t want him thinking I was a little kid or something.

“Hey, Ari, wait up. We didn’t really get much chance to talk in there.” He was totally cute, I was right. Sometimes the club lights flattered people, but not this guy, he was even better.

“You’re not running away from me are you, we had a great night, right?” Uh oh, maybe I made the wrong move. At least if he went like psycho-killer-rapist on my ass I had Emily just behind me, we both had pepper spray and 200 simoleans worth of self defence classes. Rape was definitely not an option.

“Of course not. I just didn’t see you.” I gave him a big smile as I handed over my excuse. Hopefully it would work.

“Listen, I really want to see you again. Here’s my card.” He slipped me a shiny white card, but I knew it was like a social faux-pas to look at someone’s card in front of them, so I kept hold of it.

“Thanks, I’ll be sure to keep this safe.” God, I better get going, it was getting light. If they knew how late I was out mom and dad would totally kill me. So he wasn’t our true definition of a potential, we never usually carried on a potential to a later date, but I was definitely making an exception for this guy.

“I hope I can see you again.” He whispered. God, was this guy cute or what?! I didn’t answer, I had his card and was definitely going to call him. I knew he was watching me again as me and Emily ran down the street.

I had wrote down his number on my hand and over the next week I considered when to call him, I totally didn’t want to appear desperate, but he was so cute. My answer came when me and Emily were skipping science one day. I was telling her all about him, and we were trying to figure out when I should call.

Suddenly we were faced with one of the school slackers, Isiah. His long mane of hair was the most striking thing about him, as well as his strange dress sense. No one really knew much about him, just that he came to school to socialise and was out partying every night of the week.

We didn’t really know why he was talking to us, probably trying to pick us up or something, ew, he was totally gross if you ask me. After a lot of boring conversation our ears perked up when he asked us,

“So, when did you guys do it?” He asked with a smile.

“Um, do what?” Emily replied, looking puzzled.

“It!” He waited expectantly for out recognition, but it never came. “You know, sex!”

“We haven-” I cut quickly across Emily before she finished,

“Oh we both did it last year sometime, I don’t really member, its happened like soo many times since.”

“You guys are such dorks. I can tell you’re total virgins. So cute.” He put his hand on his heart patronisingly, what a freak!

“Let’s go. Quick!” Emily whispered in my ear. Thank God, I had to leave before I just died of embarrassment. I couldn’t be a virgin any longer, I had to lose it before I was faced with complete social rejection, and Noah was definitely the one I wanted to lose it to.

* * *

Oriana was so horrid. Why did she have to be so mean to me? She always left me out, running off with her friends to parks and things, to have fun. I was really disappointed with her. At least I had my books. Ah my books, not my only friends, I’m not that much of a loner, but still a big part of my life. They were so precious, and I loved nothing better than curling up in my bed with an amazing read.

I say Oriana was always with her friends, but the truth is I honestly did not know what she got up to. We were definitely not those twins who shared everything, we even insisted on our own bedrooms, she liked loud music, dark colours, television, dancing, and all that stuff. Whereas I preferred a lovely light room, full of books and comfortable chairs. One of my favourite places was the library. I sometimes ditched school (I knew it was wrong – but I learnt more from my books than those brain dead teachers!) and biked there (I didn’t want to ruin the environment with car journeys.)

Standing in front of the rows upon rows of fabulous books I realised that this is where I wanted to be. I wanted my words to give inspiration to people just like me, who found comfort among the pages of fantasy.

I had to hurry home, I had ideas that were threatening to burst out of my head and spill all over the sidewalk. Please let me remember these ideas, I could probably get published with the thoughts I was going to transfer to the page!

This had to be my destiny, now all I needed was to get the ideas down, and get someone to look at my work, I was going to get so much more out of life than silly old Oriana, who would probably end up participating in the old ‘drugged-up-movie-stars-daughter’ cliché.